In a typical plant for mounting electronic components, for example, a plurality of mounting lines are provided, each of which is formed by a plurality of component-mounting machines arranged in a line. In a large-scale plant, dozens of mounting lines are provided. In each component-mounting machine, a plurality of component feeding means (hereinafter, referred to as part feeders) each of which is arranged to successively feed one kind of components are provided in parallel and are arranged to repeat an operation in which a component fed from a selected one of the parts feeders is held by suction and is then mounted on a substrate. The parts feeder in each component-mounting machine has to be replaced in the case where shortage of components occurs in a component reel included in that parts feeder, the case where a mounting error frequently occurs, or the case where the type of circuit board to be manufactured is changed. Thus, in many facilities for mounting electronic components, there are a number of parts feeders, for example, several hundreds to several tens of thousands of parts feeders including replacement parts feeders. Each parts feeder requires regular inspection and maintenance in order to ensure reliability of its feeding operation. In addition, when the component-mounting rate of a parts feeder is low, for example, that parts feeder has to be repaired. However, for each of a number of parts feeders, the current location and the history such as the date of purchase, the maintenance date, and the component-mounting rate were not managed conventionally.
As a method for managing components, the following conventional method is known. In a plant for mounting electronic components, a barcode is put on a parts feeder as component-feeding means provided in a component-mounting machine. In that barcode, identification information of the corresponding parts feeder is recorded. A system server combines the identification information recorded in the barcode on the parts cassette, component-type information and information about the initial number of components that are recorded in a barcode put on a component reel mounted on the parts cassette, thereby creating replacement history information. Based on this replacement history information, components are managed. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-127487, for example.)
However, in the conventional plant for mounting electronic components, there are a number of parts cassettes and the location and history of each parts cassette are not managed. Thus, even if regular and efficient maintenance is tried in order to ensure a stable feeding operation, it is not possible to locate a parts cassette to be maintained or know the history of that parts cassette. This prevents accurate maintenance and makes it impossible to ensure that all the parts cassettes perform a reliable feeding operation. As a result, a situation where production is stopped because of an error of feeding components during production may be caused, and improvement of the production efficiency may be prevented. In addition to the parts cassette, the suction nozzle also has the same problem.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-127487 discloses management of components that is performed by putting barcodes on a parts cassette and a component reel. However, that management method does not manage the parts cassette itself. That is, it is not possible to perform regular and efficient maintenance the parts cassette by managing the location and history of the parts cassette. In addition, even if that management method is re-formed so as to manage the parts cassette itself, the system structure becomes large-scale and the cost of equipment is increased, because the system server, the respective mounting machines of the mounting line, and a parts shelf are connected by a line.
Therefore, considering the aforementioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a management method and a system that easily manages location and history of a device that requires maintenance, such as a parts cassette and a suction nozzle of a component-mounting machine, and performs efficient and accurate maintenance.